'Ida' is breathtaking, powerful

What would you do if you were a young woman about to become a Catholic nun and you found out you actually were of Jewish heritage?

Such is the dilemma facing 18-year-old Anna, the main character in the movie "Ida," which premieres this week in theaters all around the Tri-County area.

This 80-minute, starkly beautiful black-and-white film (Polish with English subtitles; rated PG-13) was made in 2013 by acclaimed Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski, based on a screenplay by Pawlikowski and Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

The film was recently awarded Best Film at this year's London, Warsaw and Gdynia Film Festivals, as well as picking up two Golden Lions at the Gdynia Film Festival, the Ecumenical Jury Award at Warsaw and the International Critics' Prize for Special Presentations at Toronto's International Film Festival.

Locally, the film was featured at both the Palm Beach International Film Festival and the Miami Jewish Film Festival.

Randi Emerman, president and CEO of the Palm Beach International Film Festival, said: "Our audience was captivated by the story and imagery of 'Ida.' 'Ida' is a breathtaking and powerful film that kept our audience thinking about it long after they left the theater."

Added Igor Shteyrenberg, director of the Miami Jewish Film Festival: "'Ida' was one of our festival's most lauded and anticipated films. Those lucky enough to have seen it at our Festival were immediately captivated from its opening sequence to its closing credits. Any lover of film will appreciate this story of a young woman's discovery of her history and herself. It's a searingly powerful portrait of survival and loss that grows in memory."

"Ida" is about 18-year-old Anna, a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland who is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a dark family secret dating back to the terrible years of the Nazi occupation.

Anna, a sheltered orphan raised in a convent, is told by the Mother Superior that she must first visit her Aunt Wanda, her sole living relative. Wanda shocks Anna with the declaration that her real name is Ida and her Jewish parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation.

This revelation triggers a heart-wrenching journey into the countryside, to the family house and into the secrets of the repressed past, evoking the haunting legacy of the Holocaust and the realities of post-war Communism.

In this beautifully directed film, Pawlikowski returns to his native Poland for the first time in his career. The intersection of this young woman's personal story with momentous historic events makes for a powerful and affecting film.

Making the film special is that Anna/Ida is played by stunning newcomer Agata Trzebuchowska in her first movie role. Trzebuchowska is not actually an actress; never trained to be an actress; never wanted to be an actress; and still doesn't want to act now.

Pawlikowski said: "All I can say is that Agata was right for the part. Agata doesn't try to seduce or express feelings with facial grimaces. It's as if she'd never learned to communicate that way — as if she'd lived away from society or grown up in a convent with no mirrors. Agata is unusual in today's world and pretty close to how I imagined Ida to be. That's why I chose her."

Pawlikowski said his casting decision worried some producers and financiers of the film, but in the end the risk paid off brilliantly.

"Ida" opens June 20 in Boca Raton at the Living Room Theaters and Regal Shadowood; in Delray at Movies of Delray; in Fort Lauderdale at the Classic Gateway Theatre; in Lake Worth at Lake Worth Playhouse's Stonzek Theater and Movies of Lake Worth; and in Miami at the Coral Gables Art Cinema. On June 27, "IDA" opens in Miami at the MDC's Tower Theater and the U of Miami Bill Cosford Cinema.